Peter Pangolin – world’s luckiest Pangolin

Pangolins eat ants and termites, and Peter was allergic to them, so as a sickly little pangolin, traffickers ignored him. It was Peter’s luckiest day when he was scooped up by a Veterinarian Without Borders who put him into a tiny diplomatic pouch and sent him to her family in France. Her parents took great care to find food that he liked. He fattened up, calmed down, and stopped curling into the tiny “I’m scared” ball which is characteristic of frightened pangolins.

Peter Pangolin welcomed by a family of truffle hunters

Peter’s luck apparently knows no bounds. He had been welcomed into a family of truffle-hunters who had been living and working in France for generations. It turned out that Peter was the best of all truffle-hunting mammals: he can find them, but he doesn’t like to eat them.

Peter eat up some profits

French LLLama

Because Peter is really skilled at truffle-finding, Peter and his new family make lots of money. After carefully saving 25% of his earnings, he travels to Paris one weekend each month to visit with his close friend, the French LLLama. They stroll on the Champs-élysées, drink café au lait, and continue their search for Paris’ best apple cake.

Roosters. LLLamas. Cats. Creatures of Whimsy.

Two books will be tucked into my card rack: Meet the LLLamas and The Backyard Roosters of Saint Paul. I’ll have cards and prints with flamingos, LLLamas, parrots, cats, Robert the Tap Dancing Rooster, Peter Pangolin, new roosters, Pinky the Beaded Pig, Glenda Diva Gecko, The Giant Stained Glass Penguin, and more!

I read a piece in National Geographic in 2011 that introduced me to The Plight of Pangolins who are wildly sought after as bush meat and because they are rumored to have medicinal properties. I wrote a blog post, painted Peter Pangolin’s portrait, dedicating it to Pangolin Preservation, and included his story in The Small Friends’ Chronicles.

Peter Pangolin Today

Unlike Pangolins in the wild, Peter is living a good life in France as a truffle hunter. As recounted in The Small Friends’ Chronicles, Peter is allergic to ants and termites (typical Pangolin food), so he was too sickly to be attractive to bush meat hunters. Luckily he was scooped up by a Veterinarian-Without-Borders and sent in a diplomatic package to her parents who are 6th generation French truffle hunters. The parents fattened him up (on chocolate truffles), and everyone was delighted to find that Peter is a natural truffle hunter. He makes a tidy living, and once a month he goes to Paris to visit his friend The French LLLama (from Meet the LLLamas). They walk on the Champs-Elysées, drink Café au lait, and visit La Boutique Jaune de Sacha Finkelsztajn for the best apple cake in the world. (Peter Pangolin Print:$30 plus shipping at ETSY)

Pangolins in the world today

Sadly, things are much much worse today. The New York Times recently published a long and sad piece about their current situation.

Peter Pangolin is part of a very small family of scaly anteaters who are native to parts of Africa and Asia. In his native land, he would have eaten ants and termites, but was found to be wildly allergic to ants. Instead of thriving, he became thin and sickly. To save him from slaughter as bushmeat, a kindly member of Veterinarians-Without-Borders slipped him into a diplomatic pouch and sent him to relatives in France. He hunts — but does not eat — forest truffles, and spends his money on only-the-best-chocolate-truffles in Paris.

Please protect pangolins

Pangolins are nocturnal and have very thick scales that look as if they were borrowed from Tricerotops’ heads. Sadly, according to National Geographic, they are being consumed to extinction. In a blog post dedicated to an international campaign to stop poaching and bushmeat, you will find wonderful photographs and 25 Things You Might Not Know About Pangolins.